You know exactly what I mean. The boring warehouses (or residential "Big Boxes") that City Realty builds and charges astronomical rents for. Let's see if they bully Exodus like they are bullying El Embajador across the street.

They don't own the building where Exodus operates so I'm not sure how they could "bully" them. And those "astronomical" rents are the result of supply-demand. There are more people who want to live in Egleston than there are buildings. You can complain about the new buildings looking boring or you can complain about the rent being too high but you can't complain about both, as one is the natural tradeoff for the other. I personally wish Egleston would see super-dense, no parking, micro units, but the NIMBY groups would rather see large luxury units. The solution to the affordability crisis isn't to criticize every developer who tries to add units, the solution is to push them to build denser and more transit-oriented. Let's stop with the fake affordable units the city requires and make Egleston more affordable by relieving the market pressure!

I visited when they had a pop up store in Chestnut Hill, and these are not NY bagels. They sold them in plastic clamshell cases, which a reputable bagel place would never do (especially if they were still warm, as they would get soggy and mushy). They gave out cold slabs of butter rather than putting it on themselves. And they tasted more like the balls of dough Massachusetts is famous for calling "bagels". And do they really charge $2 for a bagel? For a plain one? Nice markup on something that probably cost .25 to make.

The closest thing to NYC bagels I have found here is Cafe Fresh in Dedham and Newton. Everything else here I have tried (Bagelville, which closed, DD, Bruegers, Local 338) have all sucked. Brooklyn Water Bagels was decent. Why can't someone open a legit bagel place here?

A poor excuse for a bagel with butter or cream cheese at Dunks is more than $2, so this is actually a deal AND you are supporting a local business.

While the style of the bagel might not be exactly like your favorite shop in NYC, let's also remember that there is no recipe that all businesses must follow. A New York-style bagel isn't a trademarked commodity. It really depends on the shop and how they want to make it. There are even differences around NYC itself.

Bagels in NYC are better because blah blah blah
Bagels outside NYC suck because blah blah blah
No one can ever make a good bagel unless they're in NYC blah blah blah
Even the really good bagels outside NYC have something wrong with them blah blah blah
BLAH BLAH BLAH

A few years ago ABC 20/20 did a report on vodka snobs.They found that blind taste tastes show vodka snobs actually preferred cheap vodka to their favorite high priced brand, the one they must have because it is so much better than all the rest. Blah blah blah.

Is that we have what's closer to a Montreal bagel, here. But people never say where you find those MTL style bagels in Boston (hint: I haven't found one). It gets beaten like a dead horse every time the topic comes up.

Please do tell them that, because hey, sometimes it’s hard to tell whether I want a bagel for breakfast or...stew.

Is there really no better way to make your point re El Embajador than by crapping all over your neighbors because they’re lined up to celebrate the opening of a much-anticipated neighborhood business on a grey Sunday morning? I wasn’t there but I’m pretty damn sure that no one waited 90 minutes for a bagel.